What is truly exasperating the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox?
Back in 1990, when the Joint Commission agreed on its second Christological statement, it put forth a pastoral plan, which called for many pastoral and practical mini-steps (e.g. joint publications, pan-Orthodox events, etc.) and commissioned some committees to study some pretty big remaining issues. Most pressing were:
(1) Liturgical matters, e.g. what to do about all of the hymns that declare each other heretical?
(2) Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, canon law and synodical structures.
The committees continued their work, but, in general, there wasn't a lot of progress on all of the practical and pastoral matters. Then, in 1993, the Joint Commission issued another statement that called for the mutual lifting of anathemas. And, near the end of 1994, the Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate issued a favorable decision, calling for actual movement toward the mutual lifting of anathemas.
That got people's attention. Things were getting real. So, the Patriarchate of Moscow met and issued an official opinion on the original Christological statement from 1990, declaring it insufficient and asked for more study on the matter.
That pretty much killed things, at least on a grand scale. Currently, it's still in the realm of academic dialogue.
So, long story short: Moscow said 'Οχι.
